anchor

The definition of an anchor is a weight dropped into the water to stop the movement of a boat or other floating object.

A heavy weight connected to a ship by a chain is an example of a type of anchor.

verb

Anchor is defined as to fix or fasten.

An example of anchor is to secure a boat to the dock with rope.

An old anchor.

anchor

noun

a heavy object, usually a shaped iron weight with flukes, lowered by cable or chain to the bottom of a body of water to keep a vessel from drifting

any device that holds something else secure

anything that gives or seems to give stability or security

a person who anchors a team, newscast, etc.

Origin of anchor

Middle English anker ; from Old English ancor ; from Classical Latin anc(h)ora ; from Classical Greek ankyra, an anchor, hook ; from Indo-European base an unverified form ank-, to bend from source ankle

adjective

designating the final leg, or stage, of a relay race

transitive verb

to keep from drifting, giving way, etc., by or as by an anchor

to serve as the end person for (a tug-of-war team)

to serve as the final contestant for (a relay team, bowling team, etc.)

Radio, TV to serve as coordinator of the various reports and as chief reporter for (a newscast)

Sports To serve as an anchor for (a team or competition): anchor a relay race.

To narrate or coordinate (a newscast).

To provide or form an anchor store for: Two major stores anchor each end of the shopping mall.

verb

, intransitive

Nautical To drop anchor or lie at anchor.

Origin of anchor

Middle English anker, ancher, from Old English ancor, from Latin ancora, anchora, from Greek ankura.

anchor

top to bottom: Danforth, admiralty, and stockless anchors

anchor

Noun

(plural anchors)

(nautical) A tool used to moor a vessel to the bottom of a sea or river to resist movement.

Formerly a vessel would differentiate amongst the anchors carried as waist anchor, best bower, bower, stream and kedge anchors, depending on purpose and, to a great extent, on mass and size of the anchor. Modern usage is storm anchor for the heaviest anchor with the longest rode, best bower or simply bower for the most commonly used anchor deployed from the bow, and stream or lunch hook for a small, light anchor used for temporary moorage and often deployed from the stern.

(nautical) An irondevice so shaped as to grip the bottom and hold a vessel at her berth by the chain or rope attached. (FM 55-501).

(nautical) The combined anchoring gear (anchor, rode, and fittings such as bitts, cat, and windlass.)

Any instrument serving a purpose like that of a ship's anchor, such as an arrangement of timber to hold a dam fast; a device to hold the end of a bridgecable etc.; or a device used in metalworking to hold the core of a mould in place.

(architecture) Carved work, somewhat resembling an anchor or arrowhead; part of the ornaments of certain mouldings. It is seen in the echinus, or egg-and-anchor (called also egg-and-dart, egg-and-tongue) ornament.

Middle English anker, Old English ancor, from Latinancora, from (cognate with) Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ankura), from Proto-Indo-European*ang- (“corner, hirn”). The modern spelling is a sixteenth-century modification to better represent the Latin misspelling anchora.

An anchor (nautical).

anchor - Computer Definition

(2) In desktop publishing, a format code that keeps a graphic near or next to a text paragraph. If text is added, causing the paragraph to move to a subsequent page, the graphic image is moved along with the anchor.

(3) In a GUI builder (development environment for creating a user interface), a format code that keeps a button, message or other interface control aligned to some part of the window. When the window is expanded, the corners of the control that are not anchored move with the window borders, but not the anchored corner. See user interface control.

anchor - Investment & Finance Definition

A
term used by Federal Reserve Governor Edward M. Gramlich in January 2003 to say
that U.S. monetary policy needed an anchor,
or a long-term strategy. He said that a clear strategy would help the Federal
Reserve react to economic problems such as a surge in unemployment without
riling financial markets.

Words near anchor in the dictionary

Synonyms

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Quote

I find that the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.